


All I've Got

by Trammel



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Adorable Bruce, Anxiety Attacks, First Kiss, Flashbacks, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, I Will Go Down With This Ship, JARVIS plays matchmaker, M/M, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Protective Bruce, Sassy Jarvis, Science Boyfriends, Science Bros, Tony Feels, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, WAFF
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-30
Updated: 2015-09-05
Packaged: 2018-04-12 02:41:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,707
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4462310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Trammel/pseuds/Trammel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony couldn't believe his eyes. As the blue energy hit him, the Hulk roared, falling backwards off the ship. He was shimmering, for lack of a better word. Shimmering, his green getting brighter, then duller. He suddenly shrunk back into Bruce, like a switch had been flipped. And Bruce was plummeting down in a free fall. Down towards the water.</p>
<p>He stared down at the churning waves. Please, come on! But there was no movement. No green. Bruce wasn't changing into Hulk, and if he was in the water as Bruce, he was drowning.</p>
<p>Bruce was drowning.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is what came to me from the Ocean prompt for the Science Bros Week way back in June. Finally done something with it. My first attempt at action scenes. My first attempt at Thor. Yikes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Art](http://archiveofourown.org/works/5164331) for this chapter by the amazing [Lady Smaell](http://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Lady_smaell/pseuds/The_Lady_smaell)

Tony fucking hated aliens. He _so_ didn't need this to remind him.

The Avengers had been called out in the helicarrier, to the middle of the Atlantic ocean where these blue-skinned, armored aliens popped up seemingly out of nowhere. SHIELD didn't know if they had one of those "magic" bridges like Thor, and Thor even seemed not to know much about this race.

Tony decided he hated them. Well, he’d decided that when they started shooting up his planet and trying to kill him and his team.

And now he was working his and JARVIS’ brains overtime, calculating trajectories and literally doing backflips to avoid their laser weapons, which seemed to knock out all technology it touched. Despite all his and SHIELD’s scans of the weapons, Tony couldn’t figure them out. He hated not being able to figure things out.

The aliens had come in just one ship, it seemed. Scouts probably. Fury wanted the Avengers to take one  alive so they could interrogate it about what their plans were. Thor had flown Cap and Widow up to the ship, and now Iron Man, Thor and Hulk were tasked with taking out as many of the aliens as they could while Cap got Widow into the control room of the ship, where they hoped she could take control of their systems.

The problem was those stupid weapons. Tony flew backwards to avoid another blast, bright blue rays just missing him by millimeters. Hulk was on top of the ship, smashing away at a crowd of aliens, punching them, smashing them left and right.  Tony flew closer and fired both repulsors at the creatures on the other side of the ship from Hulk. He hit three in a row and they fell backwards off the ship, dropping down far below into the ocean.

"3 o'clock Sir! To your right!" JARVIS informed him. Tony moved, but not fast enough. One of the creatures was flying towards him and aiming that damned weapon.

Tony didn't feel any pain when the blast hit him, but in a flash the suit did not feel weightless anymore. He felt its heaviness dragging him down. He tried to move, to lift his arms, but the suit was dead. _Shit!_ He was falling quickly, out of control.

"JARVIS? JARVIS!" he called desperately. Nothing. The damn suit was completely dead and Tony was falling - shit, he was gonna end up in the water in a dead suit.

_In the water…_

But to his right he saw Barton quickly maneuvering the Quinjet below him, while trying to stay out of the blast range of the weapons. Just in time the Quinjet was below him - Tony tried to jerk his body to the right and managed to land on the left wing with a thud, sprawled in a heap. He lay there a moment, just trying to breathe. Hawkeye kept the jet steady, just hovering, so Tony wouldn’t slide off into the water.

"JARVIS?" He tried again but there was no answer. The HUD was dead. Nothing. Fuck!

There was a roar from Hulk above him. Tony staggered to a sitting position, which was not so easy with the suit a dead weight. He tore off his faceplate and looked up. Hulk was still fighting off the swarm of blue aliens that kept coming out of the ship. But then the one that had hit Tony turned and fired off a blast at the Other Guy.

Tony couldn't believe his eyes. As the blue energy hit him, the Hulk roared, falling backwards off the ship. He was shimmering, for lack of a better word. Shimmering, his green getting brighter, then duller. He suddenly shrunk back into Bruce, like a switch had been flipped. And Bruce was plummeting down in a free fall. Down towards the water.

Tony started hitting the manual releases for the suit. Bruce was too far from the Quinjet for them to get to him in time. Tony could only watch as his body fell at an alarming rate and splashed down into the water below.

"Damnit! Barton! Banner's in the water! Take us down, right now!" Tony ordered, forgetting that without his suit working, Clint couldn't hear him. Shit! With one hand, he held on so he wouldn't be dropped into the water, and with the other he stripped off the suit as fast as he could, letting the pieces drop where they fell.

He stared down at the churning waves. _Please, come on!_ But there was no movement. No green. Bruce wasn't changing into Hulk, and if he was in the water as Bruce, he was drowning.

Bruce was drowning.

_No! This was not happening!_ Tony pulled off the last piece of the suit. He looked up and saw Thor still battling with the aliens. Cap and Natasha had made it inside the ship. So it was up to Tony. Without his suit. He took a deep breath, pushing himself to the edge of the wing.

He looked down at the water and felt nothing but panic. He had modified the suit to be able to withstand extreme depths. But he didn’t have the suit now. He just had himself.

_No. No!_ He told himself. _It’s Bruce. You have to get him. You have to._

Repeating in his head - _it's just water it's just water it's just water-_ he pushed off and jumped.

His first sensation was cold as he splashed down into the waves, then the panic came in full force. Tony forced his eyes open and looked for a glimpse of Bruce. There! To his left he saw something. Pale white among the dark water. He forced himself to move his arms and legs, to swim closer, but he had - _he had to breathe_ \- _the water_ –

Tony kicked upwards until his head broke the surface, treading water and taking huge breaths.

Ok. Ok. _You can do this. Get Bruce_!, he ordered himself.

Taking a deep breath and holding it, he forced himself back down into the water. Using all his strength, Tony kicked downwards, doing his best to ignore the feel of the water surrounding him, crushing in on him. A few more feet down, just a few more, and - there!

Bruce was immobile, his eyes closed, just sinking. Tony grabbed his arm hard, tugging him upwards. It was a strain, but he got Bruce closer to him and then managed to get his other hand around the man's waist.

Then he was using all his strength to get them back up to the surface. _Come on! Come on!_

Tony took big gulps of air, trying to quell the panic in his gut. He moved his hand up to Bruce's chin, keeping his head out of the water while leaning back and taking Bruce's weight against his chest.

_Breathe, buddy. Please._

Tony tried to look up to see who was near enough to pluck them out of the water, but a wave crashed over his head and he was choking, straining his arms to keep Bruce's face out of the water. _Fuck_! He was not gonna let Bruce die because of his own stupid panic issues!

Clint was maneuvering the Quinjet carefully down towards their position. Maybe Tony could grab on and drag them both in. Yeah, ok. That could work.

But then he heard a clap of thunder echo across the sky, and he realized he had never been so glad to hear that sound. A whoosh and an enormous splash behind him - what could only be Thor landing in the water, then a gigantic arm was wrapping around his waist.

"Have you got a strong hold of Dr. Banner, Man of Iron?" The god asked him.

"Yeah," Tony gasped out, amazed he could even talk. "I got him. I got him." Tony stared at Bruce's white face, holding his arms as tight as he could around the scientist.

Thor raised the hammer up and they were flying, bypassing the Quinjet altogether, going directly for the helicarrier, which was stationed at a safe distance from the aliens. Tony held tightly to Bruce and stared at his still, white face. He couldn't tell if Bruce was breathing. He couldn't _tell_.

They touched down on the deck of the helicarrier and Thor gently took Bruce into his huge arms. "I shall take the Doctor to the medical area." Tony followed on shaking legs as Thor entered the depths of the helicarrier and agents swarmed around them. A gurney appeared and Thor lay Bruce down on it. Tony watched as a SHIELD doctor started working on him.

_Was he breathing? Please be breathing!_

Tony tried to ask - even reached out his hand - which he realized was shaking, and he was dripping water everywhere -

_Don't. Don’t think about the water - the water was everywhere and he couldn't breathe-_

He felt himself stumble and then Thor was wrapping his enormous arm around Tony's back, catching him, holding him up. The god's usually booming voice was gentle. Well, as gentle as it could reasonably be.

"Man of Iron, you are in need of assistance as well."

Tony only managed to gasp out, "No. No. It's Bruce." Tony was trying to stay on his feet, he really was, to stop shaking, but he couldn't breathe-

_breathe, breathe -_

_"_ \- breathing. Medical bay STAT," he heard the doctor working on Bruce say, and through a grayish haze he saw several agents pushing Bruce's gurney down the long corridor.

Bruce was breathing! He was breathing, but Tony still felt a wave of panic washing over him. He closed his eyes as everything went kind of black. He didn't want to go back _there_ , he _didn’t_.

He heard voices, but couldn't understand what they were saying. Hands were on him, but not hurting him. Guiding him to lie down. Then the voices were above him and he felt he was moving, being moved.

He couldn't figure out what was going on, so he just wrapped his arms tightly around himself and tried to breathe.

_Breathe. Try to breathe._ But it hurt. _His chest hurt, where they'd ripped out his heart…_

JARVIS. JARVIS usually helped him - talked him down from these attacks. This panic. Where was he?

"JARVIS?" Tony heard himself whisper. But JARVIS didn't answer. JARVIS wasn't there. Oh God. Nobody was going to save him. They were going to come back and plunge him back into the water….

No! _No_! He was so cold. So cold. He was shivering. But that wasn't right. The desert was hot. Not cold.

There was something he needed to know, something important. What was it?

The movement stopped but the voices above him, around him, didn’t. Tony tried to focus. He knew these voices.

“- bravely leapt into the water without his armor in order to save the good Dr. – “ that could only be Thor.

_The good Dr.! Bruce!_

Tony tried to speak, but found something being pushed over his face, over his mouth. His heart jumped. What were they doing?

“Mr. Stark, you must relax.” A woman’s voice. But there were no women in the cave.

He couldn't open his eyes, couldn't concentrate on where he was, just where the feeling of the water was taking him. Taking him back…

_No. You're not in that fucking cave!_

He gasped air in and reached his hand up to touch a plastic mask over his mouth. Oxygen? Oxygen mask.

“Man of Iron,” That was Thor’s voice again. “The healers are giving you oxygen to aid your breathing. It is solely to aid you. You must try to breathe.”

Ok. Ok. Tony tried, and realized it was true. It was helping. He knew he was in the Helicarrier medical bay; he could focus enough to figure that out. And oxygen was ok. But then he felt hands on his chest, and the doctors were talking again.

\- “EKG. His pulse is extremely elevated. With his heart issues-”

The hands were reaching under his sopping wet t-shirt, nearing the reactor.

_No. No!_ He forced his eyes open. He was on a sickbay gurney, two medics on his right and the doctor on his left, long hair drawn up in a tight bun and a determined look on her face. He hit at their hands, just about stopping himself from punching the nearest one in the face.

“No. No! Fuck off!” He heard himself shout. He pushed with his legs, scooting backwards on the cot until he found his back against the wall, his hands gripping the metal railing. That was better. Safer? “Mr. Stark,” the doctor stepped forward, closer to him again. “We just need to check-“ she started.

"I said no! Don’t touch me!" Tony shouted, smacking away the hands and trying his best to glare at her.

Thor was standing near the head of the gurney, dripping water everywhere himself. He turned to the doctor and spoke, using his full, thunderous voice. "Healers, please. I suggest you step back from the Man of Iron if this is what he wishes."

Tony looked to his left, past the doctor, where there was another gurney. Several doctors were working on Bruce. Tony noticed there was a heart monitor – Bruce’s heart was beating regularly. So he was breathing, his heart was beating. Was he - ?

"Friend Tony," Thor said, toning the volume down a bit. Tony turned to see Thor was standing in front of him, but still giving him space. Not crowding him, not touching him, just holding out a blanket. "You seem to be in need of warmth. May I give you this to ease your trembling?”

Tony realized he was shaking, trembling, so cold. He nodded at Thor. Of course, of all the embarrassing things that could happen, he had to have a freak-out in front of SHIELD and his teammates.

But Thor made no issue of it. He just stepped closer to Tony and gently placed the blanket around Tony's shoulders. Tony grabbed hold of it and wrapped it around himself. He was still soaking wet, but he couldn't stand to let anyone touch him. And there was no sound from Bruce's bed yet.

He didn't need all these people to be here. He just needed Bruce to open his eyes and be ok. That's all.

"Check on Bruce," he told Thor. “Dr. Banner. Please.”

Thor nodded. “I shall.”

Tony pressed his back against the wall, one hand holding tightly to the blanket and the other on the oxygen mask. Breathe, breathe, he kept telling himself.

But as soon as Thor stepped away the doctor swept in again.

“Mr. Stark, please. We really have to check you out. Your heart-“ she reached toward him and he stupidly tried to move away, though there was nowhere to go.

"I said fuck off! Get back! I don't need - "

“Dr. Banner! You have come back to us!” Thor’s booming voice reached Tony’s ears.

Tony called out, as much as he could with the mask over his face. “Bruce! You - are you -?”

“Tony, I’m right here. Hold on.” Bruce was talking. Bruce was ok, wasn’t he?

Then the doctors moved aside and Bruce was walking toward Tony, supported by Thor. He was dressed in a horrible SHIELD-issue hospital gown, but didn’t seem any worse for wear. He was staring at Tony, trying to focus because he didn't have his glasses.

Bruce was ok. Tony felt like he could cry. But he wasn't about to cry with Fury's damn cameras watching him.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I wasn't gonna leave you there alone - I'm never gonna leave you alone. You can do your lone-wolf act and try to run off or whatever, but I'm not gonna stand for that. You're part of this team. You're important. Never gonna leave you behind. You get it?" Tony turned a bit to look at him, and Bruce saw how serious his expression was. It made it hard to swallow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Damn you real life for getting in the way of my updates! I didn't have the time to make this as good as I wanted, but I promised myself I will finish all my fics, so here it is. Hope there aren't too many mistakes.
> 
> Now with [art!](http://ganetart.tumblr.com/post/130502556972/requested-by-trammelsb-tony-stark-with-shield) by the amazing [Gassu](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Gassu)

Bruce heard voices. A lot of voices. He thought one of them was Tony but he couldn't be sure.

He tried to take stock of himself, what he could feel. His head was pounding and everything hurt. But, strangely, the Other Guy seemed to be asleep. Completely quiet in the back of his head. That was weird.

The scientist cracked open his eyes and looked around. Ok. Helicarrier medical bay. A concerned-looking young doctor was hovering over him, but Bruce turned his head at the sudden commotion to the right. The bed next to him was surrounded by people - doctors, medics and Thor, who seemed to be soaked to the bone and was dripping water everywhere.

Then he heard Tony yelling.

"I said no! Don’t touch me!" Tony's voice was full of panic and fear. Hearing that, Bruce forced himself to sit up, ignoring the protests of his aching muscles.

"Dr. Banner, I don't think-" the young doctor started.

Bruce ignored him. He looked down at himself, noticing he was dressed in a hospital gown. He reached up and touched his curls and found them wet and dripping. Had he and Thor ended up in the water? Had Tony ended up in the water? He heard Tony yelling again.

Bruce started to try to stand up when he realized Thor was standing in front of him, smiling.

“Dr. Banner! You have come back to us!” Thor crushed him slightly in one of his hugs. Bruce just let him, still trying to clear his head and figure out what was going on.

He heard Tony call, “Bruce! You - are you -?”

“Tony, I’m right here. Hold on.” Bruce answered. He looked up at Thor. "Help me over to Tony's bed. Is Tony injured?"

"He does not seem to be injured, however, he is refusing to allow the healers to treat him. We were all very concerned about you both." Thor helped Bruce to his feet and, in his usual style, launched into a recounting of the tale of the battle as only he could. Bruce tried to focus on it and put it together with what little he could remember as Thor guided him over to Tony’s bed.

"…though his suit was disabled, he removed it and immediately threw himself into the water to save you my friend…."

Wait, what was Thor saying? Tony had jumped into the water without his suit, to save Bruce?

Tony. In the water.

_The water._

Oh god. That would explain why Tony was now curled up at the head of the medical bed, back to the wall as if he were being attacked. Dripping wet in his t-shirt and jeans, with a blanket thrown over his shoulders and an oxygen mask on his terrified face. He was shaking, his eyes wide with fear, but he conjured up a smile when he saw Bruce.

“Bruce! God, you ok?”

“I’m fine. I’m fine, Tony. Just banged up.” Bruce said. And it was true. It was usual to feel aches and pains after a battle. And if the Other Guy wanted to be quiet for a while, that could only be a good thing, Bruce thought.

Bruce stepped closer to Tony, balancing himself with one hand on the railing. Thor let go of him and Tony reached out to grab his arm. Bruce held on, feeling how Tony was trembling.

“Are you injured?” Bruce asked calmly. “Do you need medical attention? I know you don't want it, but if you need it-”

Tony shook his head. He tried to take a breath, but it wasn’t working too well. “No. I’m – no. I'm fine. I just need all these people to leave me alone. I can't- I can't breathe like this.”

Bruce nodded. He also understood how mortified and horrified Tony probably was at having a panic attack in front of an entire room of people. Especially since they were SHIELD people. He turned to Thor. “Thor, thank you for your help. Would you mind maybe clearing everyone out of here? I can take care of Tony. It will be much easier that way.”

“Yes, Dr. Banner." Thor gestured to a table against the wall. "They have prepared dry garments and towels for both of you. I will leave but I shall remain right outside this entrance should either of you need me.”

“Thank you.” Bruce heard Thor getting all the doctors out of the sickbay, but didn’t pay attention to what they were saying. His attention was focused on Tony.

_Tony had ignored his biggest fear to save Bruce. Just for Bruce._

“Tony. What did you do?” he asked gently.

"You - you went- " Tony gasped from behind the oxygen mask, "-into the water. Their weapons changed - changed you back. You were you and you went into the water. You weren't coming out."

"You know Hulk can breathe underwater. You didn't have to do that."

"No! This blast changed you back. We didn't know what it was. It knocked out my suit and I couldn't figure out what it was in time. Jarvis was gone. He's - I don't - And I couldn't let you -" Tony stopped speaking as the shaking took him over.

Tony held on to Bruce's arm, trying to convince himself that Bruce was there, warm, alive. He was ok.

Bruce gave him a serious look, going into doctor-mode.

"Do you know where you are, Tony?"

"Yeah, yeah." Tony gasped, managing to inject some snark into his voice. "Favorite fucking place - in the world. SHIELD medical bay." His eyes were unsure though, and still full of fear.

Bruce held that gaze and moved his hand from Tony's arm to his wrist. "Listen, ok? Just listen to me. We're safe. I need you to breathe in for four counts, hold for four, and out for four. Like this-" Bruce placed Tony's hand on his own chest so Tony could feel his breathing and try to copy it. For once, Tony was silent, just watching Bruce with those huge frightened eyes and trying to synch his breathing.

Bruce focused his attention on keeping his breathing calm, despite the fact that seeing Tony like that made him want to grab the other man up in a hug and hold on to him, maybe forever.

_Stop. Just stop those thoughts, Banner. They're no good for anyone._

So they stayed like that for a while, until Bruce was sure Tony was breathing better. Tony finally took a deeper breath and moved his hand away from Bruce. "You really okay?" He looked Bruce over as if checking for injuries.

"Yeah. I am. It just feels like the Other Guy's asleep. It's weird." He gestured down at himself. "As much as I love this escaped mental patient look I've got here, do you maybe want to get changed into some dry clothes?" Tony smiled at his comment, then looked over at the SHIELD sweatsuits somebody had laid out for them and rolled his eyes.

Finally, he nodded. He shrugged the blanket off and Bruce helped him untangle himself from the oxygen mask. Bruce handed him a towel and lowered the railing on the medibed.

Bruce changed quickly while Tony slowly pulled of his soaked t-shirt and threw it on the floor. He dried off as best he could and put on the SHIELD t-shirt and sweatshirt Bruce offered him.

The scientist couldn't help a wry smile at seeing Tony with the SHIELD logo plastered across his chest.

"You take a picture of this, I will kill you", Tony warned. He swung his legs out of the cot, but when he tried to stand up, they wouldn't listen to him. He had to grab onto Bruce's arm again to keep from falling to the floor. God, why couldn't he get it together?

"Just hold on to me. Here," Bruce handed him sweatpants and turned slightly away while Tony finished changing one-handed. They didn't have shoes but it didn't really matter. Bruce helped Tony sit back down on the cot.

"You really should rest."

Tony shook his head. "Not here. Not here. I can't relax here." His eyes roamed the room again. "You know they'll come back. They're gonna-" He gestured to his chest, to the reactor. He knew Tony's fear of letting people see it, mess with it. And doctors always wanted to mess with it.

"So we'll go to the sleeping quarters." Bruce stepped away from the bed a moment, then returned pushing a wheelchair. Tony immediately started to protest, waving his hand.

"No no no, I'm not-" He was not gonna be paraded around like an invalid.

"If they think you're injured, they won't ask you to join the debrief." Bruce smiled.

Shit. Bruce had him there. He knew Tony too well. Tony nodded and reluctantly got in.

True to his word, Thor was waiting just outside the doors. He looked relieved to see Tony. Bruce told Thor that Tony needed rest and they would debrief in the morning, then pushed Tony down the grey hallways until they reached the sleeping quarters. There was one bed in the room.  

Tony looked at him, seemed about to say something, but then forced his mouth shut. Bruce understood, though. He wasn't going to make Tony feel worse, he was going to give him what Bruce knew he needed but would probably never ask for.

"Come here." He helped Tony into the bed and before Tony could say anything climbed in next to him, his chest against Tony's back. Bruce gently wrapped his left arm around Tony.

Tony closed his eyes and sighed. Bruce's arms were arm around him, but he still was so cold. He couldn't stop feeling the water around him. Couldn't stop shaking.

"I - I hate the fucking water." An angry whisper.

"I know." Bruce said calmly. And Bruce did know. Tony had shared a lot with him. In the year Bruce had been with the Avengers, he and Tony had shared some of their past horrors with each other, when late nights in the lab bled into morning, and, gradually, they had each come to realize that the other understood. "Just breathe and try to warm up."

"Thank you," Bruce heard Tony whisper.

"There's nothing to thank me for. Thank you. You're the one that-"

"I had to! I wasn't gonna leave you there alone - I'm never gonna leave you alone. You can do your lone-wolf act and try to run off or whatever, but I'm not gonna stand for that. You're part of this team. You're important. Never gonna leave you behind. You get it?" Tony turned a bit to look at him, and Bruce saw how serious his expression was. It made it hard to swallow.

"I got it. But you did it. You got me. You got me and I'm fine. As your doctor I'm ordering you to rest now. Try to sleep if you want." Tony could feel Bruce's smile in his voice. He turned back to rest his head on the pillow, relaxing against Bruce.

"I had to - you were - I'm not gonna leave you alone like that," Tony repeated. He had to make Bruce understand. He needed Bruce to know that.

"I got it. I do." Bruce felt Tony's breathing coming easier, felt him relaxing a bit, finally. "I won't let anybody in here, won't let those overzealous idiots near you." Bruce's finger lightly touched the reactor.

"Ok," Tony said, closing his eyes. Bruce couldn't help but pull him close.

Bruce had spent so long not connecting with people, cutting ties, staying away. The Other Guy had caught Tony, but Tony had caught Bruce, had pulled him out of his self-isolation and shown him that he could make some kind of contribution.

And, Bruce realized, as he heard Tony start to snore, Bruce was not going to leave Tony alone either.

No one had risked themselves like that for Bruce. Not since… Not since Betty.  She had been the first one who had loved him, fought for him. Made him think he could be worth something. But he couldn't give her what she needed. He couldn't give anyone what they needed.

But now there was Tony. He had let Bruce in, past all his masks, his personas, let him see even the ugly things, the fears, the pain that they shared. And he felt himself wanting to give Tony what he needed. Wanting to give him so much.

But he had to ignore these feelings. He couldn't have these feelings. He would have to just accept the friendship - the amazing friendship - that Tony offered him. That was enough. It had to be enough. He didn't need to burden Tony with everything else he felt.

Bruce didn't know how long he lay there, just listening to Tony's breathing, until this thoughts were interrupted by a soft knock on the door.

He got up and opened it to find Cap there, dirty and slightly bloody from the battle.

"Bruce! Thor briefed me on what happened. You ok? How's Stark?"

 "He'll be fine, but I think he needs to rest until tomorrow morning. I won't let him be debriefed until then."

"No, I know. That's fine. Fury's busy anyway. Romanoff and I brought back one of those…beings, and Thor is interrogating it right now. We'll need you two - once you've both recovered a bit - to help analyze the weapons and tech. Romanoff has already started on it. And she wanted -" Steve handed Bruce an earbud. "She managed to get the connection to JARVIS back up."

"Thank you Steve. Thank her. This is good."

Steve nodded. "So, debriefing at 0800 tomorrow morning."

"Tony will be thrilled." Bruce looked Steve over. "You should go to medical. Are you ok?" Bruce knew that Steve always checked on his whole team before letting himself get treated. "They'll be happy to have someone kind of cooperative, after what we just put them through."

"Yeah, I'm going. I'm going, Doc."

When Steve left, Bruce put the earbud in. "JARVIS?"

"Dr. Banner, I am glad to be speaking with you. I have reviewed the footage of the events after I went offline. I am very pleased to see you are well."

"Thanks JARVIS. Tony's asleep right now, it's probably best not to wake him." Bruce crawled back into the bed next to Tony, keeping his voice a whisper so he didn't wake him.

"Is Sir injured?"

"No. Physically he's fine. He just had a -"

"I am aware. I have accessed the video feeds from the helicarrier." Of course he had.

"Right. Tony wants you to delete all that video and while you're at it, make sure nobody can get into this room."

"Of course."

Bruce put the earpiece in Tony's ear. He knew it would be good for Tony to hear that familiar voice when he woke up. Then Bruce curled back around him, closing his eyes. He wasn't going to leave Tony alone either. Ever.

* * *

Tony felt warm, finally, after all that cold. He could feel that he was wrapped in blankets and was pretty sure the weight across his chest was Bruce's arm. Bruce was with him. He was ok.

Tony tried to keep still, because he didn't want to wake the other man. Bruce needed his rest after the battle. Tony didn't move, didn't open his eyes, just lay there peacefully for a moment.

"Good evening Sir," came a familiar voice in his ear.

JARVIS! JARVIS was back! He couldn't help the sigh of relief that escaped him.

"J. It's great to hear your voice," Tony whispered.

"Agent Romanoff was able to reconnect me after we went offline. I am pleased to know that you are unharmed."

"Yeah, I'm ok. Aside from making a ridiculous spectacle of myself here. I'm gonna need you to delete some footage from SHIELD's servers."

"Anything you require, Sir."

Tony clearly heard the smile in JARVIS' voice, and it warmed his heart. He cracked his eyes open and looked down. Yes, it was Bruce's arm resting on his stomach.  Bruce's head was even resting on Tony's shoulder. Tony couldn't really see his face, just his messy curls. But he seemed to be sleeping peacefully. Something that hardly ever happened.

It wasn't that they hadn't done this before - not exactly cuddling, more like holding desperately to each other in the grip of their nightmares or, in Tony's case, panic attacks which seemed to hit at any time of day.

It had just never happened before where the damn SHIELD cameras could capture it. Despite the warmth of Bruce's body against him he felt himself shudder for a second.

 _God, that was awful._ And Bruce had helped him, as he always did, and got rid of the SHIELD doctors trying to get at the reactor. Trying to get at him. Bruce had protected him.

JARVIS' voice interrupted his thoughts. "Should you need to discuss anything, I am here now Sir. I have reviewed the footage of your rescue of Dr. Banner.  This is the first time I have seen you willingly immerse yourself in water since-"

"Yeah. Yeah. I got it." Tony cut JARVIS off. He'd just lived through it. He didn't really need a play-by-play.

"I am confident you would have done the same for any of your teammates, or for anyone, however, I am aware of Dr. Banner's importance in your life."

Tony didn't say anything at that. But J was right. Somehow, in the past year, Bruce had become the most important person in Tony's life. He'd seen him through when Pepper left, keeping him from completely drowning himself in alcohol, in work, in all of his manic activity.

"I saw the footage, but Dr. Banner has not. Perhaps it would not be unwise to tell him how you feel."

"I - what? What are you talking about?" _How he felt?_ Tony didn't even know how he felt. He was an expert at hiding his feelings, especially from himself. They were nothing but trouble.

"Sir, I may not have a body, but I am hardly blind. And for what it may be worth, you have my approval. I believe that despite any danger clearly inherent in getting involved with him, he is a more than worthy match for your intellect and has a highly positive effect on your personality."

Tony's brain was not working as fast as it usually did. Did JARVIS just give him a seal of approval to make a move on Bruce while insulting Tony's personality? He didn't know whether to be offended or proud.

 _Getting involved with Bruce?_  Of course he'd thought about it, but he thought about millions of things every day, and that didn't mean that they were all viable, or real. Or even possible.

He just knew he'd had to get Bruce out of that water. He couldn't - fuck, he couldn't _live_ without Bruce. Bruce had become more than his friend, his science bro, someone to bounce ideas off of, laugh with after working in the lab for 48 hours straight and being too wired to go to bed, someone to turn to when the nightmares made it impossible to sleep... _So much more._

And now he was here, and Bruce was asleep against him. Bruce's arm was on his stomach, his hand splayed so that several of his fingers were resting on the reactor. Touching the reactor. Tony didn't let anybody touch the reactor. But it was ok. It was more than ok. It made him feel - not nervous, no, but like -

like

_butterflies in his stomach._

_Shit._ Fucking butterflies in his stomach like he was a twelve year-old with a crush or something. How the hell did JARVIS know these things before he did?

He looked down at Bruce's sleeping face again, relief flooding through him just to see the man here, breathing, alive. So close.

The feeling welled up in him, unbidden. _I need you._

And then another feeling. What he had felt when he saw Bruce in the water. Aside from his terror. He wasn't great at emotions, but he did recognize this feeling.

_I want you. I think I might even-_

Oh. _Oh._ Tony felt a million pieces of a puzzle he didn't even know existed just slide into place. _That was it. That was what Pepper meant when she'd told him he wasn't in love with her._

_Oh shit._

Tony must have moved a bit while arguing with his own stupid emotions, because the man lying on him stirred. Bruce lifted his head.

"Hi," Bruce said, voice still heavy with sleep.

"Hi Big Guy." Tony smiled at him.

Bruce looked down at his arm which was still wrapped around Tony, and Tony saw a flush rising up his face. "Uh…sorry." He started to move.

"No." Tony quickly placed his hand over Bruce's, holding him there. "Stay."

Bruce looked surprised but didn't move. "Ok."

Something passed between them then, unspoken, and Tony knew he hadn't been imagining things. Hadn't been just fantasizing.

_…not unwise…_

JARVIS telling Tony something was "not unwise" was the equivalent of a thousand green lights. So, maybe he should listen to JARVIS for once.

"Listen, Bruce, I talk too much. And I say a lot of stupid things. A hell of a lot of smart things, but also a lot of stupid things, I know. So I'm not gonna talk right now."

"You kind of are talking," Bruce smiled at him.

"Right. Sorry. I mean, I'm gonna do what I usually to. Take rash, decisive action."

 _"_ Huh?" Bruce was clearly confused. So Tony just leaned over and kissed him. Tony's lips were tentative, in case he'd read everything wrong and Bruce decided to freak out.

But Bruce wasn't freaking out, wasn’t pushing him away.

Bruce kissed Tony back, thinking this had to be a dream, he must be still asleep. But Tony felt too real under his hands, and against his lips. Bruce needed this too much.

Tony couldn't believe it. Bruce was kissing him back, his lips suddenly ferocious and his tongue invading Tony’s mouth, hard and desperate.

After some time Tony broke away for a moment and started to talk. "I- I-" Damnit, why did he always have to talk?

"No. Shush. Just shut up. I really need you to shut up right now." Bruce cut him off by kissing him again.

Ok. Tony was totally on board with that. He could do that. At this moment he felt like he could do anything Bruce asked if Bruce just kept kissing him like that. Face an alien army, jump back into the water without his suit. Anything.

Tony had no idea how much time passed like that, just tasting each other, holding the other man close. Finally, they came up for air. Bruce sat up but kept hold of Tony's hand. His face was flushed and he looked fucking adorable.

"Hey. Just so we're clear, I'm not gonna leave you alone either," Bruce told him.

"Yeah, I kind of got that from the way you were playing tonsil hockey with me there." Tony sat up as well, stretching his back a bit.

Bruce burst into laughter. Full on, careless laughter.  Looking at him, the thought passed through Tony's mind that he wouldn't mind spending his life hearing that sound.

_Wait, his life?_

Crap, he was in much much deeper shit than he had first thought.

 _Deflect, deflect,_ he ordered himself. His eyes moved away from Bruce's for a moment.

"Are you hungry? I'm starving." Food. Yeah, food was always good.

"You're always starving," Bruce laughed again. "Sure, I could eat." There came that timid smile. The one Tony loved.

 _Loved? Yes, loved. Deal with it,_ he told himself _._

"Good. JARVIS, can you get some SHIELD lackeys to bring us up some food? You know what we like."

"Of course, Sir."

Tony felt Bruce squeeze his hand, then met his eyes again. There was a mischievous sparkle in those brown eyes now.

"So, will this be our first date?" His eyes were confident, but his voice was still unsure. Damn that low self-esteem. If Bruce was gonna be with Tony, Tony would make sure he would work on that.

"Yeah, we can call it that. But," Tony moved closer to Bruce, his mouth next to the other's man's ear. He felt Bruce shiver. "I hope you don't follow the 3-date rule."

Bruce opened his mouth, but had no answer to that, his brain was too busy conjuring up fantasies him and Tony breaking the 3-date rule. He didn't have to answer anyway, because Tony moved in and claimed his mouth again.

Though Tony was completely focused on Bruce's lips, his hands on him, the noises Bruce was making, he did manage to hear JARVIS's smug voice in his ear.

"Good move, Sir."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The fact that Hulk can breathe underwater is in the comics - I have the post about this on my tumblr. If you want to know which one it is, contact me there and I'll try to find it.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Drown](https://archiveofourown.org/works/5164331) by [The_Lady_smaell](https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Lady_smaell/pseuds/The_Lady_smaell)




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